History Upside DownThe Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression

by David Meir-Levi
New York: Encounter Books, 2007. 152 pp. $20

Reviewed by Asaf RomirowskyMiddle East Forum

Middle East QuarterlyWinter 2009

http://www.meforum.org/2076/history-upside-down

Meir-Levi provides a valuable guide for those who wish to understand one important aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict—the battle over the conflict's historical narrative.

Supporters of Israel face the challenge of differentiating between legitimate criticism of the Jewish state and a form of anti-Semitism that uses criticism of Israel instead of Jews in order to provide a fig leaf of deniability. To recognize genuine condemnation of Israel, Natan Sharansky, former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician, suggests a test of what he calls the "Three Ds": demonization (such as comparisons of Israelis to Nazis and of Palestinian refugee camps to Auschwitz), double standards (in which Jews and Israelis are held to different and often impossible standards in comparison to other peoples and nations), and delegitimization (which seeks to deny the existence of a Jewish people, Judaism, or the State of Israel). Today, we increasingly see a coordinated campaign to deny the legitimacy of the Jewish state—its right to exist, its Jewish character, and its right to self-defense.

Meir-Levi's book attempts to unearth the historical root problems of defending Israel; he shows how doing so has become increasingly difficult as a result of the intellectualization of the debate. The author traces the origins of Palestinian revisionist history and details how it undermines the pursuit of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He argues that until Palestinian culture comes to accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, that demonization will continue. For this to change, the historical facts must be taught and debated free of the mendacity that is standard fare in the Muslim world and in Europe.

Furthermore, what the author defines as "Palestinianism" is the process of adoption of the Palestinian cause by liberal groups, such as women's and gay rights groups, which use the Palestinian cause in the same fashion as the Arab world uses it—as a media tool to galvanize their own agenda. Added to the regular use of Holocaust rhetoric, which Palestinians use to describe their treatment at the hands of the Israelis, a popular narrative has been created in which Palestinians are now the David and Israel the Goliath.